LEXINGTON - A group of Japanese agribusiness professionals took turns in the passenger seat of a tractor as the farm machinery virtually drove itself in a straight line.

The miracle was the tractor's high-tech global positioning system at work.

Todd Taylor, a representative of John Deere in Jacksonville, set the tractor's GPS so the machine would drive along a line within an inch of perfection Monday at the Illinois State University research farm in Lexington.

Visitor Kuniyoshi Takahashi was impressed with the accuracy.

"I think that's great," Takahashi, department manager of the fertilizer and inorganic chemicals department of Mitsubishi International Corp. in New York. "Sooner or later, even in Japan, it might be popular, especially on Hokkaido Island."

Eight of the agribusiness professionals weree from Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. It also has the richest farmland and the largest farms, said Donald Beatty, a consultant for Mitsubishi International Corp. in Tennessee.

"It's the corn belt of Japan," Beatty said.

The Japanese delegation arrived in Chicago on Saturday and will be in the United States for 10 days, Beatty said. ISU's agriculture department hosted the group for a one-day tour in the Bloomington-Normal area, which included the lesson on precision agriculture at the ISU farm, as well as stops to see a farmer harvesting and a visit to a fertilizer plant.

"They're trying to get a feel for the potential for that technology in Japan," said Randy Winter, ISU agriculture professor. "One of the roles of this facility is to help provide those education opportunities for the public."

Takahashi said he found the GPS system to be very interesting.

"If we can bring this machine to Japan, it will be very, very great for us," he said.

Precision agriculture has grown tremendously in Central Illinois in the past several years, said Sean Arians, a consultant with Martin Brothers in Roanoke.

Arians explained to the visitors the GPS technology works through the yellow dome on top of the tractor's cab. It locates the machine's position on earth by communicating with 10 satellites in outer space and using four of those satellites to define its location. John Deere has three levels of accuracy, 13 inches, 4 inches and less than an inch, Arians said.

Farmers can adapt GPS technology while they plant and till their fields, Taylor said. Farmers can also use GPS when they harvest soybeans; the technology for corn harvesting is still evolving, he said.

"It just really makes the equipment that much more efficient, which in turn saves the farmer a lot of money," Taylor said.

It's also beneficial for the environment, Winter said. The technology can record what chemicals and fertilizers have been applied, where and how much, he said.

"You have this history for any particular piece of land," Winter said.